World Cup performance will determine Rahul Dravid's legacy as India coach

In a little under four and a half months, give or take a few days, Rahul Dravid’s term as head coach of the Indian cricket team will come to an end at the conclusion of the 50-over World Cup. Time alone will tell if this was his first stint, or his only stint. As India embark on another fresh challenge, a full tour of the West Indies starting with the first of two Tests from Wednesday (July 12), this is as good a time as any to reflect on the former skipper’s year-and-a-half tenure in one of the hottest seats in world cricket.

Dravid’s appointment in November 2021, a mere formality once he applied for the position, was understandably greeted with optimism and enthusiasm. As the India Under-19 and ‘A’ coach for four years from 2015 to 2019, he had overseen tremendous success. Even though Dravid’s focus was more on building a strong bench and providing the national side with multiple options for each slot than short-term success for the developmental squads, both the Under-19 and ‘A’ teams enjoyed stellar runs, the colts reaffirming their status as the premier junior team in the world by lifting the World Cup in New Zealand, under Prithvi Shaw, in 2018.

Dravid oversaw the blossoming of young batters

The blossoming of a host of young batters, particularly, was a good augury as it suggested that Indian cricket possessed the wherewithal to tide over the inevitable departures of the established big guns from the Test spectrum at some stage – Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane. The likes of Shaw, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, and Sarfaraz Khan were expected to push the old order all the way. But things haven’t quite panned out that way, have they?

Also read: We don’t feel any pressure of trying to win an ICC trophy: Rahul Dravid

Gill (who debuted in the Kohli-Ravi Shastri era) and Iyer alone have taken to Test cricket with felicity; Shaw has fallen by the wayside, Samson has blown hot and cold, and Sarfaraz hasn’t been able to translate domestic runs into ‘A’ team returns. Iyer made a stirring start to his Test career before being struck down by a back injury that necessitated surgery, and Gaikwad has had to wait until now for his maiden Test call-up. In the interim, Suryakumar Yadav played one Test against Australia in Nagpur when Iyer was unavailable, but has since been put out to pasture, not even making the squad for the World Test Championship final or this ongoing tour of the Caribbean. To suggest that something’s amiss will be an understatement.

Worse still, it isn’t as if the senior statesmen have made it impossible to overlook them. Since the start of 2020, Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane all average below 30 in Test matches; Pujara and Rahane have been dropped before being resurrected, the temptation to go back to the old proving more irresistible than backing the exciting prospects of tomorrow. Rahane’s appointment as Rohit’s vice-captain for the two Tests in the West Indies, just one match after his return to the fold after 16 months on the sidelines, caps the litany of misadventures that have undermined India’s credentials in the longer format.

Tactical calls that defied logic

Dravid’s first Test as head coach perhaps foretold the challenges ahead. On an admittedly ‘dead’ surface in Kanpur in November 2021, New Zealand’s last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel held on to deny the hosts their victory. From then on, especially overseas, India have floundered miserably, losing four of six Tests in the last 18 months. They blew a 1-0 lead to go down 1-2 in South Africa in January 2021, failed to defend 378 in the delayed final game against England last June, and were hammered by Australia in the WTC final last month. Sure, the blame for these defeats can’t be laid at the foot of the head coach or the support staff alone, but several of the tactical calls that defied logic emanated from the backroom staff and that can’t be overlooked.

Such as, the sustained short-ball barrage in the Birmingham Test against England last year. On a flat fourth-innings deck with England’s batsmen in no discomfort against the short delivery, India kept testing out the bounce in the pitch and conceded runs at five to the over to roll over without a fight despite defending a huge target. And then, last month, after inexplicably leaving R Ashwin, the No. 1 Test bowler in the world, out of the WTC final, refusing to target Travis Head’s vulnerability against the bouncer until the left-hander had breezed into his 80s on his way to a match-defining century.

Also read: Team rebuilding for next T20 World Cup, we have got to be patient with youngsters, says Dravid

The obsession with turners in India even though Indian batsmen are now as susceptible to the turning ball as anyone else hasn’t covered anyone in glory. That the management demanded a track that would help spinners in the day-night Test against Sri Lanka last March despite boasting of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in the line-up has escaped the scrutiny and censure it deserved. But then, that was during the honeymoon period.

India have been continually excellent in bilateral white-ball series, but they didn’t make the final of either the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE or the T20 World Cup in Australia towards the end of 2022, further blips in the road. Having affirmed their faith in a new ultra-aggressive approach, India pulled Kohli and KL Rahul out of cold storage just before the Asia Cup and the results were disastrous in Rahul’s instance as he looked a terribly pale and limpid shadow of his once-imperious self.

Lack of transparency

Lack of transparency in the ‘processes’ being followed has sparked uncertainty outside even if the insistence that communication within the group is ongoing and healthy is strident. Dravid has always been brutally honest in self-assessment and will be the first to admit that his reign has been little more than passable.

As captain, Dravid led India to memorable highs including Test series wins in the West Indies and England, though sadly, he will be remembered as the man who was in charge when India failed to advance from the first round of the 50-over World Cup in 2007. It’s possible that 16 and a half years on, that same tournament could define his legacy as coach if he can do a Gary Kirsten and mastermind a campaign that results in ultimate glory. If so, all else that preceded it will be a footnote. Otherwise…